Four area high schools make Newsweek's top 2,000

Four local schools made Newsweek’s list of the top 2,000 public high schools in the country.

Newsweek’s list ranked schools based on different measures such as average college-entrance test scores, AP scores and available classes, as well as graduation rates. Such criteria that would indicate college readiness of outgoing students.

Topping the quartet of area schools that made it was Phoenixville Area High School, which came in at 839.

“In all honesty, it’s an honor for Phoenixville to be recognized as one of the top high schools in the nation,” said Phoenixville Principal Craig Parkinson.

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The high school moved up from its ranking on the list last year of 912.

“Every year we’ve challenged the students to be better and better and better and better and they’ve risen to all of the expectations we’ve set.”

He said moving up on the list speaks “volumes” for the staff and “their enthusiasm and passion” which “obviously carries over into the classroom.”

Additionally, Parkinson said the district’s superintendent and assistant superintendent, Alan Fegley and Regina Palubinsky, respectively, “truly set the vision” for the high school’s path.

“We’ve grown a lot over the past few years it says a lot about the central office administration,” Parkinson said. “I’ve never worked with two supportive administrators like them before. It’s really not possible without them.”

Perkiomen Valley High School was the next highest-ranked Pennsylvania School on the list, coming in at 881.

“The 2,000 schools that are included in the list are said to be those proven to be the most effective in turning out college-ready graduates, and we are proud to be recognized as one of the best,” Perkiomen Valley Principal Cyndi Lewis said.

Although Lewis said her high school has done well on the testing that made up the criteria for their selection on the list, she said “there is always room for improvement.”

“We continue to set goals for ourselves as educators and for our students so that we can be sure that we are preparing our students with the skills and knowledge they need to succeed in the 21st Century,” said Lewis.

Lewis also said the criteria the list used to judge schools is only part of what Perkiomen Valley focuses on to prepare students for “life after graduation.”

Among the examples she listed are the school’s annual career fair and a career study program with local professionals.

Renaissance Academy ranked at 1,055 and Perkiomen Valley High School was ranked at 1,852, rounding out the local schools on the list.

“We’re pretty happy and excited (to be on the list), I would say,” said Michelle Boyd, the principal of Renaissance Academy’s Upper School. “We are a unique school so it’s nice to see we are competing with the very established districts in this area.”

“Obviously, it’s a very proud moment in time for the faculty and staff at Upper Perkiomen High School,” said Principal William Shirk. “I like to believe over the last six years I’ve been here we concentrated on rigor and AP and remediation and enrichment for all kids and I like to think that has really helped our students out.”

Both principals praised their staffs for their commitment to learning.

“They’re extremely hard-working, dedicated,” Boyd said. “They give up immense amounts of time to work with students before school, after school, during lunch periods...it’s a K to 12 school so there are some connections that last all through the grades.”

“We take time out of the day so kids can get the enrichment they need,” Shirk said. “We’re small enough that we can have the personal touch for students in classes.”

The highest ranked Pennsylvania school was Philadelphia School District’s Julia R. Masterman Laboratory and Demonstration School.

Carol Martin Gatton Academy of Mathematics and Science in Kentucky, which is located in Bowling Green, was named the top school in the Newsweek list, a position it held in 2012.